What if men and women can be friends? And the sex part didn’t get in the way?

Apologies to Billy Crystal’s Harry, but it’s the 21st century and our Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe) is willing to give it a try. Even when the engaging young woman he meets and spends the night sparring with at best friend Allan’s (Adam Driver) house party turns out to be happily settled with a nice, successful boyfriend who has a job at what seems like Model U.N.

Sure, he could turn, walk away and call it a night, but Chantry (Zoe Kazan) is the first person to come close to lifting him out of his funk; he almost doesn’t have a choice in the matter. Morose and adrift for a year after the breakup with his fellow medical resident girlfriend, Wallace dropped out of and writing technical manuals, living in the attic of his sister’s house. Where could their friendship lead if not to heartbreak? His nephew’s name, Felix, is one clue.

This is a classic romantic comedy. Classic, by which I mean, quick-witted, and heartfelt.

In the 25 years since Nora Ephron has made most of the genre that followed seem too lazy, pat and improbable, you can count the sun-dappled but still somewhat believable romantic comedies you’d watch more than once on one hand. One of them, the offbeat 500 Days of Summer, had Los Angeles as a miliu and now in The F Word, director Michael Dowse offers 365 days of Toronto, where the movie is both set and filmed.

And just as the Empire State Building peeks through, so does the CN Tower looming in many scenes; if not, we get ping-pong at Spin and aerial nighttime views of the Creed building’s curves. This is Toronto playing itself right down to the Spacing buttons Wallace wears on his lapel. Sure, Wallace and Chantry walk west on College from the Royal Cinema yet somehow end up at the George Street Diner in the east end. But this cinematic Hogtown is downright picturesque – even the familiar teal and orange Beck taxi cab gleams at high sheen, cleaner than anyone in the city has ever seen – that I hope the production also got grants from Tourism Toronto.

From their meet-cute over magnetic poetry fridge tiles through several seasons og hanging out and being teased and goaded by friends, to their credit the winsome Kazan and Radcliffe play their chemistry naturally, playing with it and keep us guessing. Their low-key relationship feels as though it’s happening in real time rather than on a script page, almost as unsure of their next move as we are.

Granted, when they banter it’s in fully formed sentences (and, for being strangers, kick off their friendship with an almost alarming number of pubic hair and poop jokes) and an outrageous, artery-clogging concoction from Elvis’s cookbook perhaps a loaf too far (especially since this is Toronto: poutine would have sufficed).

Flights of improbable fancy, too – not only the winged whimsical drawings of Chantry, an animator, that come alive and layer over the live action. The movie is a co-production with Irish Film Board and planes criss-cross, take off and land in Toronto and Dublin enough to thrill frequent flyer points holders.

As the best friend couple, Driver and Mackenzie Davis are goofy and land the most jokes, on cue – and for a change, they’re supporting characters who seem to be living in their own simultaneous movie as the leads figure things out, not just materializing out of thin air to advance the story. Plus, they’re the best such pair since Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby bickering.

Torn between two suitors, Chantry opts for a third choice, one that few romantic comedies acknowledge exist let alone explore. It’s a smart, dare I say truly romantic take on the nature of friendship (the F word of the Canadian title; elsewhere in the world, it’s known as What If?), between romantic partners but also their pals, and the role it has not just in falling in love, but staying there.

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